Now You Know I’m Listening To Your Podcast

I’m in the early stages of a couple podcast listener measurement methods. Methods that put the control in the hands of the listener – not the podcaster or a third-party – and the metrics in the hand of the podcaster, not a third-party.

I’m trying one of the methods out with a small handful of my favorite podcasts. So, if you’re one of those podcasters – you now know for sure that I’m subscribed.

What’s In Your Media Bag?

In First Crack Podcast #77, Erik Dahl mentions his ‘media bag’. A bag of recording devices and gear ready to document any event.

Got me thinking about consolidating all my gear more intelligently in a single, unified, media bag.

First step – inventory:

  • iRiver IFP-790
  • M-Audio MobilePre USB Mobile Preamp
  • Powerbook (does this count?)
  • Lots of AA batteries
  • Phillips Vista Pro USB webcam
  • Mini-tripod from Office Depot
  • Blank CDs and DVDs
  • 1/8″ to 1/8″ audio cable
  • 1/8″ to XLR audio cable
  • 2 1/4″ to 1/4″ audio cables
  • 2 XLR Microphones
  • Firewire cable
  • RCA to 1/8″ cable
  • 3×5 Notecards
  • Sharpie Markers

Seems like there’s a few things missing (like the obvious digital still/video camera).

What’s in your media bag?

First Crack 77. The Smith 3 on the State of Podcasting

The Smith 3 – Kris Smith (Croncast, Pale Groove Studios), Erik Dahl and Garrick Van Buren (Working Pathways, First Crack Podcast) – are back and we run through the state of podcasting, including;

Listen to The Smith 3 on the State of Podcasting [40 min]

Your Podcast Is Easy To Igonore

Related Posts:
Podcasting’s Image Problem
The Center of Podcasting
Podcasting is Ron Popeil for Radio

Elsewhere:

“I’m doing my best to find a show that doesn’t spend most of it’s time discussing the goods or services of a third party” – Conrad Slater

Conrad, might I suggest the First Crack podcast

“The slicker you make your show, the more it looks like a Pepsi commercial. It also gets less interesting to me…” – Dave Slusher

Oh, Canada?

We’re watching some Degrassi Junior High tonight and a bit about the U.S. invading Canada came up. Now, it may surprise you that my public school education didn’t discuss the multiple times we invaded (War of 1812, Fenian Raids of the 1860s), or planned to, our northern neighbors.

First I heard of an invasion was Canadian Bacon. Oh, and History Lessons: How Textbooks from Around the World Portray U.S. History.

(related note: Numb3rs is written just like Degrassi)

How Can You Resist the Chevy Tahoe?

Obey the Machines' Every Command

Chevy decided to open up the art direction of their new Tahoe to the world. Brilliant idea. This falls under the ‘spell your name right’ category of publicity.

From my perspective, it doesn’t matter if people create ads critical of the vehicle, they’re still creating ads for the vehicle. Which means they’re talking about the vehicle.

The image above is my experiment with the clips GM made available. Click it to make your own.

And if anyone knows how to pull a copy of it locally, lemme know. Thanks.

Forrester Confirms Podcasting Isn’t Interesting

Recently, I was asked for a list of the top 25 podcasts. Period. Like a list of top foods, another attribute is required to have any value (fruits, husband-wife chatter, technology, frozen, music, independent, sparkly).

I’ve said it before – Podcasting is more like voicemail than radio.

Forrester’s Charlene Li backs me up with two points:

  1. Podcasting is hard to accurately measure. (Seth Godin just said, “there are important things you can’t measure”)
  2. Podcasting existing audio is more valuable than creating something new.

I’m pretty impressed that with all the hype, the interesting things with podcasting are still happening outside the scope of the analysts and the podcast directories.

More on the podcasting-as-voicemail from Rex Hammock:

“I believe podcasting’s greatest impact will be as a personal medium for small groups — as small as two”